Treatment scams allowed to flourish in Florida | Letters

It has always baffled me that police and prosecutors took so long to crack down on pill mills when it seemed as though dozens had opened overnight. Now we are seeing a similar story with drug treatment facilities and sober homes being charged with massive insurance fraud and patient brokering.

As with the pill mills, it seems that dozens of addiction related treatment centers opened overnight due — once again — to very little oversight or scrutiny by state officials. The shear numbers should have sent up a red flag that something nefarious was happening here. Our state legislators are responsible for not having stricter regulations in place, thus allowing these predatory businesses to prosper in Florida.

Let's hope that in the future, when the next criminal scam proliferates so obviously, that it doesn't take 5 years for the state to recognize it and to shut it down.